July 8, 2014 • Volume 5, Issue 14 • ISSN: 2154-3240

In This Issue

♦	Feature Article: Player or Pawn?
♦	Ask Amanda: Apparently I’m a toxic manager… help!
♦	Practical Tips: Six Thinking Hats

Player or Pawn?

Politics are present everywhere. It’s defined as the practice and theory of influencing others in order to achieve and exercise positions of control over a community. Remember the playground? Who was always the captain? Who was part of the “in crowd?” Who hogged the ball? Who was the weird one no one could figure out what to do with? That, my friend, is politics in action. Human beings want to put others in buckets so they know how to interact with them. It makes complexity simple—or so our brains think!
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	Life is the story you tell yourself.

Practical Tips:
Six Thinking Hats

Inventor Edward de Bono invented the Six Thinking Hats method in the mid-80s to encourage consensus among team members. He instructed each team member to characterize their arguments with color in order to separate fact from emotion: blue for identifying the goal, white for facts, black for discernment, red for emotion, green for investigating ideas, and yellow for optimism.
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Supposedly I have a reputation as a “toxic” manager. I’m floored and have no idea how to respond. Any suggestions? S.H., Forest Hills, NY

First, congratulations on the promotion. Your skills must be highly valued, especially if there is some question regarding your abilities as a team leader. The fact that you’re only learning now of your reputation says two things to me: 1) you’re not appropriately engaged with your team/the grapevine; and 2) your management is risk-adverse.
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Recommended Resources

If you want to learn more about the Six Thinking Hats Method, visit the de Bono Group's Website.
Note: We have no financial relationship with the de Bono Group.

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About: Our Corporate Life LLC (OCL) is a company that offers a new system for reducing unnecessary workplace suffering caused by the organizational, interpersonal, and ethical issues of our time. It is founded on the belief that acting humanely and achieving business success are always compatible. Working with both companies and individuals, OCL helps create solutions that enable corporate employees at every level to optimize profits while thriving in the workplace.